“The Hardrock Haven Band of the Month is a band we firmly believe needs to be heard. Each month, one Hardrock Haven staff member has their opportunity to pick a band they feel is going to break soon; a band that is deserved of nationwide attention; and lastly, a band that just kicks ass.” … Derric Miller.

Hardrock Haven is proud to bring you our second installment for our new section — Band of the Month — and this time around we journey to Finland and heap praise upon Leverage.

Leverage is a progressive hard rock outfit from Helsinki, Finland who is more hard rock than progressive. The band comprises of six talented musicians: guitarists Tuomas Heikkinen (band founder) and Torsti Spoof, vocalist Pekka Heino, keyboardist Marko Niskala, bassist Pekka Lampinen and drummer Valteri Revonkorpi. While many Scandinavian and European bands follow the trend of speed-infused power metal, Leverage takes their queue from classic hard rock bands of the past, choosing to let the music breath they don’t overburden their music with needless over playing.

The heart of Leverage lies within the musical compositions of Tuomas Heikkinen who has taken a daydream and turned it into reality. Together with his former guitar student Torsti Spoof piloting the discovery and redefining the music of Heikkinen, the duo holed up in Spoof’s studio and built the foundations for Leverage’s debut release, Tides in ‘06.

The soul of the band was discovered on a cell phone recording. Heikkinen (Brother Firetribe) discovered his version of Blackmore’s counterparts — Dio, Turner or White — in the guise of vocalist Pekka Heino. Heino has a voice pure as gold, and his vocal prowess follows in the same vein as Jorn Lande. Adept at maintaining pinpointed clarity, Heino’s voice beguiles the Maiden-ish vocal approach of his Scandinavian or European rivals.

The experience, which solely falls to the vices of the music, is a modern twist to hard rock bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s where the songs where appointed their due by honing in on a tight cohesive sound that accounts for all instruments. Additionally placing emphasis on a strong vocal presence, Leverage represents a group of musicians hitting on all cylinders. They have embraced the past and the present and created a sound unique to themselves.

Hardrock Haven also reviewed their debut release Tides in March of ‘07 and you can check out what we thought of that release: Click here.

Open the Hardrock Haven Jukebox on the home page, and scroll down to hear 2-songs from their debut release, "Follow Down That River" and "Stranger."

Congratulations to all the guys in Leverage, and thanks for being the Hardrock Haven Band of the Month for April!

http://www.leverageband.com/

Check back to this section May 1 when staff writer Edwin van Hoof picks his Band of the Month!